The application of drywall board or sheeting material to wall framing stud members is a standard element of commercial and residential construction having been carried out for many years Under normal circumstances, the drywall board or sheeting material is applied to wall framing stud members after the insulation, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical connections have been completed. The drywall board or sheeting material is nailed or screwed to wall flaming stud members and later seams are taped and the surface “mudded” which, upon sanding and finishing, creates an interior wall ready for painting or other finishing.
In instances in which a vertical wall is free of conduit or vent openings, the above-described application process is carried out quickly both at floor level and at elevations, the latter requiring ladders and scaffold The drywall or sheeting material is generally applied board-by-board at four foot elevations until the entire vertical wall has been covered. The installation process, however, becomes much more complex when conduits, plumbing and heating penetrations and vent openings are to pass through the to-be applied drywall or sheeting material. Generally, this is accomplished as a two man procedure One man is on a scaffold taking measurements of the penetrations through the wall and calling them out to the man on the floor with the material to be installed at the higher elevations after he marks and cuts out the penetrations. This process is labor intensive because the man on the scaffold must first call out measurements while the man on the floor with the material waits only to then cut out the penetrations in the material to be applied at the higher elevation. After the bottom man cuts the sheet material to be applied at the higher elevation, he passes the material to the man on the scaffold for him to install The man on the bottom then stands and waits for the man on the scaffold to install the material and when the installation is complete, the scaffold is moved and the whole measurement and cutting process starts over again. During this installation process one man is constantly waiting for the other man to complete his work. He is left standing with no constructive work to do until the other man has completed his work.
In order to complete this method of penetration measurement and sheeting material installation a scaffold must be erected according to Federal and O.S.H.A. requirements to obtain the penetration measurements and prepare the material to be installed, and then install the material. This is a two man process. The above described process makes the drywall board or sheeting material installation a tedious time consuming and labor intensive process and one which is fraught with potential injury.
It is thus proposed through the present invention that one can transcribe and cut features such as electrical and mechanical penetrations and sheet cutoffs onto drywall board and sheeting material at proximate floor level without the aid of scaffolding in order to prepare the sheeting material for future installation. These and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.